If You Go Where: 12428 Fingerboard Road, Monrovia When: Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Contact: Call or text 240-388-6514 Helping Hands and Caring Hearts, a nonprofit organization based in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, recently opened a food pantry in Monrovia to serve individuals in rural parts of Frederick County. The pantry offers non-perishable foods, as well as other necessities, like blankets and hygiene supplies, according to the group’s executive director, Jenifer Zimmer.

Citing concerns about appearing partisan, the Montgomery County Board of Elections announced Nov. 20 that it will no longer follow social media users. Board of Elections President David Naimon explained the body’s reasoning in an interview with MoCo360 Friday. “The reason for the decision was that we didn’t want to follow some people and not others and have someone interpret who we follow as an endorsement of some sort,” Naimon said.

Virginia lawmakers are asking the Biden administration to “pause” work on a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation until a government watchdog can complete a review into how a Maryland site was selected. The letter from 11 members of Virginia’s congressional delegation to Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, urges her agency to place a temporary hold on the project.

Hundreds of luxury apartments and single-family homes are underway as the second phase of a planned $800 million development in Elkton moves forward. The housing is the latest addition to the large-scale Southfields of Elkton that will convert 650 acres of remote land off of Interstate 95 and the Elk River into a mixed-use community anchored by retail and industrial complexes. Timonium-based Stonewall Capital is the master developer and visionary of the project that was unveiled in 2019.

The administration of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is proposing to tackle a multibillion-dollar, long-term budget shortfall by imposing drastic cuts on transportation spending that would slow highway construction, reduce transit service and increase the cost of airport parking, according to a summary of the plans. The six-year plan, expected to be announced next week, calls for an 8 percent cut in the annual budgets of the state’s highway, transit, ports and airports agencies, along with the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Construction budgets at most of the agencies would face even deeper cuts, according to the summary, parts of which were obtained by The Washington Post.

Hello my name is Alicia Briggs mother of Charles Johnson who was killed along with his fiancé on November 25, 2023. They left behind a 3 year old daughter named Chloe Johnson who still doesn’t know that her parents who loved her beyond life are never coming back. We are raising funds to assure Chloe’s gets everything she needs. Anything Is Appreciated.

I have been reading with great interest the lively commentary to David Plymyer’s excellent piece about proposed projects at Harborplace and Camden Yards and the need for urban design and community engagement. I would like to add my perspective as former chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) and one who was part of the discussion of a comprehensive, transformative vision for these and many other developments underway in downtown Baltimore.

It’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in Frederick. The cold snap this week gave us a preview of winter. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or something else with your family and friends, you know what’s coming. Frederick is a great place to enjoy the festivities of December. The city is all aglow in lights, from the historic district downtown to the shopping centers to the north, south, east and west of the city, to the smaller towns and cities around the county. Homeowners are decorating, as are business owners.

Alvin Hathaway was in awe as he slowly walked around the white-walled room surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, welcoming natural light from almost every direction. Sporting a white construction hat and neon vest, the Baltimore native gushed over the progress made so far in transforming P.S. 103, the former school of Justice Thurgood Marshall in West Baltimore. “I think this space is going to be absolutely phenomenal, because this is the space where we are going to be historically accurate as it relates to the restoration of an 1877 classroom,” Hathaway said of one of his favorite rooms in the formerly segregated school building.

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) and state Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain are the top Maryland officials headed to the annual international climate conference now underway in the United Arab Emirates. The two-week confab, known as COP 28 (officially the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), brings together policymakers, business leaders and environmental activists to set international goals for fighting climate change, discuss ways to finance clean energy development, and look at technology demonstrations — along with good, old-fashioned political advocacy and protest.